Mostly because he was genuinely somewhat terrified of her, those torture sessions of hers will forever scar his psyche...
Yuki raised an eyebrow. "You asked, I answered. You ready to go by the way? I want to leave as soon as possible."
Naruto sighed. "Right, right...let me just give some last second words of advice to everyone before I-"
He paused, realizing something was off with that sentence.
"...'We'?" the blond echoed, uncertain.
The young hero only nodded in return. "Yes, 'we'. 'We' are going to Kyoto. Are you ready to go?"
Naruto said nothing, staring at her owlishly, before turning around to look at everyone else to check if he heard that right.
"...Is she serious?"
Rias glanced from her queen to Mio, as confused as everyone else was.
Before anyone could answer properly, Issei moved up to the blond and wrapped his arm around his friend's shoulders. "Hey Naruto...this is a good chance, eh?"
Naruto gave the brown-haired boy a confused look. "...A good chance? For what exactly?"
The pawn simply responded by nudging him with his elbow, a perverted grin on his face. "Come on. You and Yuki-san are going to Kyoto by yourselves...you have a chance here, eh?"
The shinobi said nothing, eyes blinking repeatedly in his abject confusion.
The hero in question tilted her head slightly, not understanding as well. "...I'm coming so that he doesn't get himself into trouble. He's practically a trouble magnet, if you haven't noticed."
Yuki then dropped her bag, grabbing something inside it when she unzipped it and showed it to her friend.
Naruto instantly paled.
"...You also didn't finish doing your time while we were tutoring." she finished.
The blond backpedaled and hid behind the brown-haired boy next to him, using him as a human shield against his torturer.
"Ara ara...it seems that our kohai is traumatized." Akeno chirped, giving her king a grin.
Rias didn't reply, she simply took in the scene with satisfaction, this boy gave her excess work for the simple fact that he was bored or she was simply caught in the cross-fire of his pranks.
Felt good.
After lots of verbal complaints, Naruto finally accepted the fact that Yuki was tagging along, there was no harm in it he supposed.
The car that was transporting them had recently arrived and the duo was putting their luggage inside, with Naruto filling the hero in on his plans for Kyoto.
"So you want to speak with the yokai faction leader, hm? Makes sense that we take human transportation then...don't want to make them believe that you're siding with devils." Yuki said, thinking about what complications could possibly arise from such a meeting.
"Yeah, Rias noticed that too. Although...apparently she was more worried about that fact that I wouldn't get my 'full Kyoto experience'...or something like that. No idea why that matters though." the shinobi responded, giving the red-head behind him a look.
Rias, who was reminiscing about said experiences, gave the blond a haughty smile. "You say that now, but you have never experienced the splendor of Kyoto. I assure you, you will thank me for this."
The queen behind her sighed, her king and her japanophile tendencies...
Naruto finally turned to fully regard the high-class devil. "Hey...you remember what I told you to do while I'm gone, right?"
Rias raised an eyebrow at that. "Don't you mean 'what you suggested'?"
The blond shrugged, acquiescing the point. "Suggested then."
"Yeah, we remember."
Naruto nodded seriously, good.
They were talking about the suggestions that the blond made to his allies when regarding their training. Many of which revolved around self-improvement.
It wasn't much, but he felt that they needed to hear it from him, as someone who has the experience to back up his statements.
...Sometimes.
"Ah...by the way, apologies about the whole training center thing." Rias apologized, a rare sheepish grin on her face.
The shinobi glowered, how could he forget?
Damn her.
But at the same time, he got Gama-tan out of it, so maybe it was kind of worth it?
"...Whatever." Naruto grouched, turning away with a petulant pout on his face.
The 'Great Ladies' could only grin at each other with his attitude.
Meanwhile, Yuki, who was focusing on putting away the last of her luggage, felt someone place their hand on her arm.
A flash of long red hair caught the hero's attention through the side of her eye.
"Mio? Is there something wrong?" Yuki asked quietly, noticing the girl's disquiet.
Mio was giving her a steady stare, trying to formulate the words that she needed to say.
"...I want to come too." the half-devil admitted, gazing at the human girl with grim determination.
Yuki squinted her eyes slightly. "...Why?"
Mio squirmed slightly, uncomfortable with her own request due to it's short notice, but was silently hopeful. Since the hero managed to get a spot...she was hoping that she could too.
"I want to keep my family safe." was all she could say in the end.
The hero stared at the red-head for a few seconds, studying her face without comment.
Before closing her eyes.
"If you really want to keep your family safe...then you should stay behind."
Mio leaned forward, opening her mouth in protest...
"Mio." Yuki cut her off, giving the younger girl a hard stare. "I need you to remember something here..."
The hero leaned in this time, narrowed yellow eyes locking with wary pink.
.
.
.
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